7:06pm Sunday 3rd August 2008
By Phil Chard
BJARNE Pedersen accepted a costly fall which saw him miss out on a Czech Republic Grand Prix semi-final place was his own fault.
Pirates' skipper was harshly excluded from the semi-final in Cardiff in the previous GP when it clearly appeared Nicki Pedersen had been at fault in a controversial second bend incident.
Bjarne claimed referee Mark Wojaczek shouldn't have thrown him out of that race, a decision many other people also felt was wrong and that cost the rider a great chance of winning the British GP.
But this time in Prague on Saturday night the Poole Castle Cover rider was quick to acknowledge referee Krister Gardell got the latest decision to hinder Bjarne's GP progress right.
Bjarne was left to rue a self-inflicted exclusion from heat two when he went down on the third bend after Tomasz Gollob had dived hard under him on the back straight to snatch the lead.
It was a costly error as Bjarne threw away at least two points and ended up missing out on the semis by one.
Bjarne, who had led from the tapes, said: "I suppose you could say I was the nearly man again as my exclusion cost me a semi place and if you are in the semis then anything can happen from there.
"That exclusion was a bit frustrating for me because I know I was going well but I just felt my front end go away from me and that took me down.
"It's the sort of thing that happens in speedway and you've just got to deal with it and move on."
Bjarne, who got up off the floor to grab two second places before running a last and then winning heat 18, added: "To be honest, I felt good out there.
"For the most part I had good speed and was picking up the points.
"In my fourth ride it felt to me that the bike was just dying a bit too much and so I switched bikes for my last ride and I picked up a win."
Bjarne, cruelly robbed of a semi spot after Rune Holta had won heat 20 from behind, continued: "In the end it wasn't quite enough and although I still had a chance of making the semis I can't really depend on what other riders do.
"But my back up team worked really hard for me again so I want to leave Prague focusing on those positives and look forward to a round where everything goes well for me all night."
Bjarne went into the meeting in 13th place overall 16 points adrift of an automatic top eight re-qualification spot.
He ended it in the same situation, only with one less round to bridge the gap, five rather than six.
Bjarne, would missed two earlier rounds because of injury, didn't enter this year's GP qualifiers so he has to finish in the top eight to guarantee World Championship status next year.
One GP triumph - and his only success so far came at Wroclaw in 2004 - would propel the two-time World Cup winner with Denmark back into contention.
It's not impossible, but the Pirates star is clearly up against it and faces a tough task to hang onto the regular GP billing he has enjoyed since 2003.
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